64 sniper enters guilty plea in Albemarle court

An Afton man who fired shots at cars on Interstate 64 last March will go to prison.

Slade Allen Woodson, 20, pleaded guilty to 14 felony charges this morning in Albemarle County Circuit Court as part of a plea agreement:

• Two counts of malicious wounding.
• One count of attempted malicious wounding.
• Five counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle.
• One count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
• Three counts of shooting from a motor vehicle.
• Two counts of shooting at an occupied dwelling.

Woodson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison for the use of a firearm charge. Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford said the statute shows a sentence ranging from 28 years to 150 years, although it is unlikely that the state’s sentencing guidelines will recommend a sentence of 28 years.

As part of a plea agreement, Lunsford agreed to drop another use of a firearm charge. The second charge would have added a minimum of five years of prison time to Woodson’s sentence.

Woodson and then-16-year-old Brandon Dawson now have both admitted that they fired shots March 26 and 27 while driving around Albemarle County. Dawson testified last year that he and Woodson had been working on a car before they started drinking and driving around.

The shots damaged homes and vehicles, injuring two people slightly as a result. The incident shut down a portion of I-64 for several hours and closed Albemarle schools for the day. Waynesboro police also reported shots fired at a vehicle and a bank around the same time.

Dawson was sentenced in July to a 180-day intensive juvenile program after appealing his original sentence of an indeterminate amount of time in a state juvenile facility.

Woodson has already been sentenced to a two-year active prison sentence in Waynesboro after admitting his role in the shootings there. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 23 in Albemarle.